Daily News Editorial

Technology for education

17 September 2016

Sri Lanka has gained a respectable position in the rankings of Physical Quality of Life Index thanks to the free education and healthcare systems which all post-independence Governments have continued unabated. However, our education system is still mired in old teaching methods and even some of the syllabuses have not moved forward with the times. Hence the massive mismatch between the requirements of the job market and the education system which emphasizes theoretical subjects as opposed to vocational ones.

Education is not a stagnant field. Education and technology go hand in hand. Most adults lament that today’s children hardly read printed books. They also worry that children are addicted to tablets and smartphones through which the Internet can be accessed. There is no doubt that the Internet (World Wide Web) is a minified strewn with material that can harm the thought process of children. But it is also equally true that the Web is awash with information of a beneficial nature. In other words, the Internet can be an educational as well as entertainment portal that has the potential to enrich young minds. In fact, there is even a word for it – edutainment.

The computer tablet is a rather recent phenomenon – Apple introduced the iPad only in 2010. Today, there are dozens of tablets available in the market from various manufacturers and some models combine the flexibility of a tablet with the usability of a PC with a detachable physical keyboard. Today, even the tablet is being superseded by the phablet – a big screen (typically 5.5 inches or more) smartphone with voice calling capability. These devices have already supplanted the traditional desktop and laptop as the preferred device for browsing the web and a multitude of other tasks such as reading and listening to music. There are also devices such as the Kindle designed exclusively for storing and reading books.

Tablets are also getting cheaper, faster, slimmer and better – the iPad was horrendously expensive, around Rs.100,000, when it came out six years ago. Today, one can buy a good tablet for around Rs.20,000 to 30,000 and some big-screen smartphones are even cheaper. This is an item that is ready for mass-market penetration even in developing countries such as ours. It is also time to adapt this technology to suit our national requirements. It is in this context that one should look at Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure Minister Harin Fernando’s timely proposal to provide 10-inch tabs programmed with the entire school syllabus to students above grade nine in schools, instead of textbooks.

It is still not clear whether this matter has been discussed with the Education Ministry, but it can conduct a feasibility study on the proposal. The initial cost will be prohibitive (depending on the cost of the selected tablet model), but if we look past that expense, there will be substantial savings in the future. First, there will be no need to print several bulky textbooks which will save millions of rupees to the Exchequer every year. Second, students too will have far lighter load to carry to and from school – it is no secret that many schoolchildren have back problems due to the heavy bags they are forced to carry. They will still have to take notebooks, but some tablets can record lectures and users can actually write on some of the more expensive models, though it is highly unlikely that such models will be available for classroom use. There are some concerns as well, regarding device charging (should schools be equipped with charging stations?), availability of Wi-Fi, repair/replacement of broken tablets and above all, monitoring of content to prevent children from accessing unsuitable sites if and when the devices are connected to the Internet. However, most tablet makers provide Applications such as Apple’s Classroom App which enable teachers to remotely monitor the students’ screens and take appropriate action.

In the meantime, our educationists and tech experts should learn from the experiences of other developed and developing countries where tablets or other types of computers are already in regular classroom use, along with interactive whiteboards. From Kenya to USA, tablets have invaded classrooms across the world. The first country to provide free computers to all students was a developing country – Uruguay, whose “Plan Ceibal” has become a blueprint for other countries taking the same path. In Asia, Thailand was the first country to introduce tablets to schools. Neigbouring India has a similar programme while Turkey's “Movement to Increase Opportunities and Technology” project is introducing over 10 million tablets to schools.

This promising project will need a lot of fine-tuning to make it a reality due to its massive scope. Training the teachers to teach with tablets in itself will be a challenging task as there is often resistance to change. However, the students will take to them like ducks to water, because the younger generation is already familiar with high tech devices. It will be a perfect match between technology and education if this project can be implemented successfully.